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From Roll Call

Stevens Makes Big Telecom Bill Push

August 2, 2006
By Tory Newmyer,
Roll Call Staff

The first major overhaul of telecommunications laws in a decade appears to be sinking in the quicksand of election-year politics.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), is racing to round up enough support for the measure to clear the 60-vote hurdle set by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) before granting the measure floor time. But the Alaska Republican is running into resistance in his own ranks - including from GOPers locked in tough reelection races.

Though the Senate bill is geared toward smoothing the way for phone companies to roll out television services, the measure ropes in several other issues and has stalled on the matter of “net neutrality,” which emerged this spring and summer as an unlikely political firestorm.

Now, with several Senate Republicans eager to avoid controversial votes as they struggle to hang on to their seats in a difficult election climate, many are resisting Stevens’ drive to push the measure to a vote before the November elections, said aides and lobbyists close to the issue.

Furthermore, the debate has provided a torrent of campaign cash for candidates in competitive races this fall, with both sides counting on donations to help sway fence-sitting Members.Vulnerable lawmakers are loathe to cut off that spigot before they are in the clear.

“Another reason some don’t want it to happen is from the fundraising perspective,” a GOP Senate aide said. “Some in leadership are saying, ‘Let’s not vote until the election.’”

GOP Sens. Rick Santorum (Pa.), a top target in his race against state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., and Mike DeWine (Ohio), who is fending off Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown, have both voiced concerns about the measure, several sources said. But their exact rationale is unclear. DeWine’s office declined to discuss the issue. Santorum’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.), who faces a serious primary challenge before his general election battle, confirmed that he is so far opposed to cutting off debate on the bill.

“I’m starting to hear about net neutrality back home, and I’m not on the [Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation] committee, so I’m still learning about the issue,” he said.

But Stevens is not giving up. The Commerce chairman said he is close to having the votes he needs and said in an interview Tuesday that he believes he can cross the 60-vote threshold. “We’re getting there,” he said. “I believe we have it - I really do.”

Several sources on and off Capitol Hill said Stevens has 42 one-on-one meetings with colleagues set up for this week alone, though Stevens himself denied it. “I’m not going to sleep much if I do that,” he said.

But Stevens did say he was devoting extensive attention to the matter this week, even as he is charged with managing a defense spending bill that he wants passed before the August recess.

“There are some I don’t have to see,” he said, referring to the Senators he is counting on to support his telecom bill. “I just talk to them and say, ‘Are you with me or aren’t you?’ Others I have to talk to, and some don’t have a working knowledge of the issue, so that takes some time.”

Many leading Democrats have threatened to filibuster the bill, since it lacks what they call adequate protections to keep Internet service providers from discriminating against certain Web sites that do not pay for preferential treatment for their traffic. That means to reach his target, Stevens needs to hold Republicans together even as he peels off a handful of Democrats.

Several observers on both sides of the debate said even securing GOP support will be a tall order as the midterm elections approach. The Web site giants lobbying for stronger net neutrality protections have potent grass-roots backing from groups ranging from the Christian Coalition to MoveOn.org as well as from bloggers across the ideological spectrum.

Though they are facing off against the more entrenched lobbying forces assembled by the phone and cable industries, those pushing for net neutrality protections have managed to make their complaints heard.

One GOP Senate aide said, “I don’t know if we’ve gotten many communications at all from ... the position of the Bells and the cable.” Meanwhile, a Democratic Senate aide said that contact in his office was running 90 percent against the position of the phone and cable companies.

“I don’t think anybody wants to see this before the elections,” said Maura Corbett, spokeswoman for It’s Our Net, a coalition backing net neutrality. She said her group is targeting vulnerable Republican Senators but also focusing on those who have not yet expressed a strong opinion.

Phone company lobbyists are coordinating their activities with near-daily conference calls, and keeping real-time whip counts that they share with Stevens’ staff, according to several people familiar with the operations.

Even those lobbyists pushing for the bill concede that it is unlikely it will get floor time until after the elections. At that point, they said, Stevens likely would turn to a lame-duck strategy, possibly breaking off pieces of his broader bill and trying to attach them to spending measures.

Stevens himself has refused to discuss what approach he might take, though he has acknowledged the possibility his bill could be put off until after the November elections.

Addressing reporters last week, Stevens said, “Whether it happens before the election or after the election is a question for leadership, not for me.”